Following the sad news published yesterday that Linda Ronstadt, one of the most successful singers of the 1970's, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and hence will never be able to sing again* I thought it only fitting to showcase here on the Amoeblog some of the female vocalist great's music; an artist of whomDolly Parton once so famously said, "There's really only three female singers in the world: Streisand, Ronstadt and Connie Smith. The rest of us are only pretending."

I went digging in the crates of Amoeba, where you will find the 67 year old, eleven time Grammy and two time Academy of Country Music awards winner filed under such categories as rock, country rock, pop,adult contemporary, and Mariachi, to revisit some of the singer's, who once dated California Gov. Jerry Brown, finest musical moments - mostly from the seventies. Following below in video format these include her with her first group in 1967 singing the Mike Nesmith penned song "Different Drum" found on The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt / Evergreen Vol. 2 (CD), "You're No Good" (the lead single off her 1974 album Heart Like A Wheel) that was a rock interpretation of a Clint Ballard Jr. song (many of her most famous songs were written by others), a live version of her singing "Long, Long Time" on the Johnny Cash Show in 1970, her version of Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" from 1977, and her version of the Motown hit by TheMiracles "Tracks Of My Tears." Of course these selections just scratch the surface since counting all of her own solo albums (of many genres) along with the literally dozens of ones by other artists she has guested on (such records asNeil Young's 1972 album Harveston which, along withJames Taylor, she sang back up vocals on "Old Man" and "Heart Of Gold") the total number of albums featuring Ronstadt's voice clocks in at over 120! Look for them throughout the three Amoeba Music stores and online at Amoeba.com

*"I couldn’t sing, and I couldn’t figure out why.... and it didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist. I think I’ve had it for seven or eight years already, because of the symptoms that I’ve had. Then I had a shoulder operation, so I thought that’s why my hands were trembling," Ronstadt told the AARP website yesterday. Read full story here.